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So we’ve been on our overland tour for four days now and so far it has proved to be a great way to see the main highlights of Western America. Monday and Tuesday were all about marine life which excited me greatly. So far we’ve seen seals, crabs, starfish, elephant seals, dolphins and my personal favourites, the otters (one of which made eye contact with me for at least 8 seconds. Exciting stuff). Seeing these creatures in their natural habitats has been an amazing experience and sure beats the Sealife Centre. We also went to Santa Cruz, where I wracked my brain for ages trying to remember the song by the same name (It hasn’t come to me yet but I’m sure my fellow passengers are thankful) We rode the rides from the film of ‘Lost Boys’- there were roller coasters and mini golf but fortunately no vampires.
Yesterday we went to Los Angeles where we strolled along Hollywood Boulevard and mingled with the stars (Okay, there was the one guy who starred in Crocodile Dundee and a Charlie Chaplin Impersonator who gave me a flower then demanded several dollars but it all counts). The pavements are all engraved with stars which list the names of the rich and famous including Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Julie Andrews, Celine Dion and the Rugrats (No, I couldn’t understand that one either!) I got to stand in the footprints of Johnny Depp and cuddle up to Samuel L Jackson (Even though he was only made of wax).
We spent the day at the Universal studios, which was just fantastic. The staff policy at Universal studios must be to get customers as wet as possible because nearly every ride has some kind of water feature (Especially at ‘Waterworld’ where they shamelessly throw buckets of water over your head…) We did the studio tour where we got to ride down Wisteria Lane where ‘Desperate Houswives’ is filmed and saw the sets from The Grinch, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jaws, War of the Worlds, The Mummy, Indiana Jones and the classic horror film Psycho (During which they staged a scene where a man chases our bus with a 9 inch blade in his hand and a look of hysteria in his eyes… this must cause some pleasant dreams for the number of small children onboard!) We went on the ‘Simpsons’ ride which was probably the closest I’ve ever got to actually being in a cartoon as the special effects were so amazing. We also dared the ‘House of horrors’ (Though Dean unashamedly hid behind me then whole time).
So now we are off on the bus again, heading towards some funky trees of some sort. Life on the bus has been fun so far. Unlike last year, there is a wider age range of people. Most appear to come from Germany, though there are people here from Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Romania and Spain also. There is the usual mix of characters, including a woman who claims to be able to communicate with animals and a silent man who prefers to watch others instead (creepy). There’s a guy who takes even more photos that I do, including ones at obscene hours of the morning when your face is not even awake yet, a young German girl who seems to like food a lot and calls everyone ‘dude’, and Joe, a guy from our last tour (the guy who got us singing ‘We are the world’ on that momentous karaoke night.) The tour leader is much more organised than our last guide who spent his days either drunk or asleep though he has a voice like one of the muppets. However, Dean is baring a grudge against the current guy since he wouldn’t let him make eggy bread or something. The bus is cool – it’s like a giant bed on wheels which means I can do two of my favourite things at the same time – travelling AND sleeping. Happy days.
Claire x
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